Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction

Just remembered that the post apocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog is based on a short story by Harlan Ellison, which he later expanded into a novella. I've not read either of them, but the film is decent, with some nice ideas and lots of surreal touches.

Literature blogs have recently become very introspective on the obsession (may be overstating it a bit) with dystopian and post-apocalyptic futures in novels. As we don't have a dedicated literature essays thread I thought I'd post this one in here.

Just read The Reapers are the Angels after seeing glowing reviews for it and multiple comparisons to The Passage. Started off promisingly then around the halfway mark went a bit WTF and had an ending that while thematically appropriate didn't really work.

It bears a great many similarities to The Stand (including it's length), but it's a good read. Boy's Life is McCammon's best though.

I beg to differ. It's clearly The Wolf's Hour and I can say that without having read any of his other books. Why? The Wolf's Hour features Hitler, Rasputin (off-camera, so to speak), a mad scientist, a Nazi named Boots because he kicks/stamps people to death and a werewolf James Bond fighting Nazis. [/off-topic]

This is probably one of my favourite topics for books and movies. I like sci-fi but more realistic stuff, no aliens attacking and stuff like that. Some of my favourite reads have been The Stand, The Road and I Am Legend. Anyone recommend some stuff I may like?

A nifty avatar joke by Alask in another thread reminded me of the seminal post apocalyptic sci-fi snippet by Harlan Ellison, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. Seriously, read this short if you haven't, because it's amazing.

And as a general SF note, if you haven't read Deathbird Stories, a shorts anthology by Ellison (that doesn't include the above), go and do so right now you goddamn fuzzface, you rodder, you punk.

I like his books including Wolfs Hour but hes not the greatest writer, his work always strikes me as a little immature. I enjoyed them much more when i was younger. But the ideas are fun, the stories are pretty solid and they are an easy read.

I like it. It's realistic and suitably sombre. The tone is set with the T. S. Eliot excerpt at the beginning and that the book doesn't deviate from this atmosphere - despite some wonderfully comedic characters - while still remaining riveting is I think testament to Shute's skill with prose. It certainly doesn't feel 50 years old, partly due to the universality in western culture of its imagined premise but mainly because of the down-to-earth writing which avoids superficial romanticising of the characters and instead allows their actions in the gravest of situations to speak of their deeper personalities.

I had some issues with areas of spotty characterisation and a few sub-plots that went nowhere, but overall I enjoyed it, I particularly enjoy apocalyptic fiction that focuses on the rebuilding of society post-disaster rather than the human race is forever screwed tales and this scratched that itch.

Spoiler

Some of the racial stuff in this was a bit suspect. One character in particular is cringeworthy sounding like a blaxploitation parody character constantly talking about 'Honkies' and the fact that most of the black faces in the book are members of a cannibal army. On the flipside, the first black astronaut is one of the heroes.

It was interesting comparing this novel (written in the 70s) to more modern sci-fi. In particular, there's a trend of treating technology as a bad thing in a lot of modern tales and we'd all be happier if we just went back to living in harmony with nature like our ancestors. In this technology is treated as something we should cherish and fight to preserve.

I particularly enjoy apocalyptic fiction that focuses on the rebuilding of society post-disaster rather than the human race is forever screwed tales and this scratched that itch.

Ah, that reminds me of an old Algis Budrys book, 'Some Will Not Die', which concentrates on just that, in an episodic story set in a post-apocalyptic US. Ages since I read it; I seem to recall it was a solid enough read, if not particularly special. Possibly worth a punt for readers of this thread.

In the last few months I finally got around to reading some of the books recommended here. On the Beach and Earth Abides were both very good. I've also read the Wool series which I guess fits in here, that was also great. I've still got to work my way through plenty of the others mentioned here.

Anyway, has there been any other decent books that may jump to the top of my list that have been released in the last couple of years since this topic was started?

It's set a few centuries after the collapse of civilisation, following a guy who heads out from his group's enclosed sanctuary into the wider world. It's reminiscent of Wool in a way, in that the societies he portrays are separated from modern-day life by numerous generations & so the customs and frames of reference are fairly alien. Really enjoyed his writing style.

Just finished Robopocalypse, which, despite the terrible and generic name, was a really good post-robot-apocalypse story. Made a change from the zombie/nuclear war tropes of so many end of civilization tales. I would definitely also recommend The Passage but felt that the sequel was far too similar to Battlestar Galactica but with vampires.

And if you haven't yet experienced Riddley Walker then get to it. An amazing book.

On the topic of zombie armageddon, I just finished Day by Day Armageddon by JL Bourne. It's badly written to a certain extent, but as I was listening to it on Audible it didn't really matter as much, so it was kind of ok. Quite enjoyable in a very methodical description of survival sort of way.

Feed (by Mira Grant) is about the aftermath of a Zombie uprising and well worth a read.

Despite recommending this before, I must say, do not try and progress with the series, it pretty much blows its load in the first book, with the next two going further into the rather poorer realised areas, and the end was rubbish too.